Rocket League Sideswipe is a standalone spin-off for iOS and Android

While the mainline Rocket League game continues to receive new content as a free-to-play game in Epic Games' portfolio, Psyonix today revealed that it's been working on a new spin-off. The spin-off is titled Rocket League Sideswipe, and it's currently in development for iOS and Android devices. The new game should be ready to go at some point later this year, with testing even beginning in some regions today.Rocket League seems like it would be a particularly difficult game to pull off on mobile devices (and with mobile controls no less), so it shouldn't come as a complete shock that Rocket League Sideswipe looks quite a bit different from its more fully-featured counterpart. The objective is to still sink an oversized ball into your opponent's goal using rocket-powered cars, but the perspective has changed for this mobile installment.

In normal Rocket League, the camera is positioned behind the player, but in Sideswipe, it views the playing field from the side. Arenas seem more designed around verticality than in Rocket League proper, and you'll be participating in 1v1 or 2v2 matches – no 3v3s or 4v4s here. Psyonix also says that matches will only last 2 minutes.

Those who might be worried about hit-or-miss touchscreen controls are promised "mobile controls that are easy to pick up whether you're a master of Rocket League or a new player still learning your way around the league." Add to that a competitive ranking system, customization presumably similar to what we get in the standard Rocket League game, and "advanced mechanics" for those who want to take the game a little more seriously and it sounds like this could be worth diving into for Rocket League fans.

Of course, we'll have to see more of the game in action before we can make that call, and if you're in Australia and New Zealand, you'll have the chance to do that today through a regional alpha that's taking place on the Google Play Store. Psyonix says more betas are coming up in additional regions, so we'll let you know when the studio shares more details on that front.